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Thursday, January 10, 2013 | By ShanB | Comments Off on Sustainable Skiing: The Best and Worst Resorts

Back in 2003, Sierra magazine published an article on the sustainability, or lack thereof, of various ski and snowboard parks. Since ski runs are basically clear-cuts, and since ski resorts are heavy users of energy and water for snowmaking, snowmobiles, and lifts, it makes sense to keep score of which resorts trod heavily on the earth, and which ones tiptoe.

When Sierra first took a look at this issue, the overall outlook was pretty bleak. Over 20% of the resorts got a failing grade on the Ski Area Citizen’s Coalition’s annual Ski Area Report Card, and only 7% were A-class aces. The average score for all the accessed resorts was a C. But have resorts improved their practices in the decade since?